Monday, March 30, 2009

Funny Works

As someone who scoured the country in search of the loudest college football fan (screaming contests sponsored by Halls Cough Drops) and traveled the nation—more than once—conducting singing and shaving in the shower karaoke contests (for Schick razors), I can tell you that funny works.  I’m a big believer that one of the best ways to generate attention for a consumer brand is with humor—and my track record has proven it.  So I was excited to stumble upon an article in this month’s issue of Entrepreneur Magazine that supports my “if it’s not big news, it’s gotta be funny” argument (click here to read the article).

Let’s face it: new products aren’t always groundbreaking and, with all of the clutter out there, making people laugh by sprinkling your marketing efforts with a little bit of clever can help your brand break through.  Whether it’s a promotional campaign, PR program or just a simple premium, using humor can make all the difference ... and, very often, the recommendations we submit to our clients come with that special SISU-style wink-and-a-smile. 

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Data Visualization Is Reinventing Online Storytelling

Today’s consumer seems to have an insatiable appetite for information, but until recently making sense of all of that raw data was too daunting for most. Enter the new “visual scientists” who are turning bits and bytes of data—once purely the domain of mathematicians and coders—into stories for our digital age.

Now there are two questions that all advertisers, publishers and agencies need to ask of themselves: “What data do you have that is truly valuable?“ and “How can you create a meaningful experience or narrative out of it?“ The answers, we may find, will become the catalyst for a more authentic way to tell stories in our digital era.

—read more—

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Error in Illustrator

This is perhaps my favorite error that I’ve ever received: short, simple, and very informative with ample space in the dialogue box. Thanks Adobe Illustrator.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Put The Twitter Down

One of my many, many weaknesses is for instances when technology disrupts the status quo. <— Note my tasty use of the Latin as you click on that last sentence and read about how pervasive digitally delivered knowledge is challenging our centuries-old legal processes.

Hint: Time to update the processes…

Monday, March 16, 2009

100 Great Resources for Design Inspiration

OK, pay attention, this gets complicated: I picked this up off a Tweet from Jason Pollock, which was a Retweet that was listed on Retweetist, and linked to this rather tasty little Cliff Notes for designers…and it’s so fresh it’s still WARM! Check out the story from Mashable.com.